With the advent of an industrial society, people are exposed to noise pollution at greater and greater levels from background noise such as street traffic, airplanes, and construction sites, as well as intentional high sound level exposure due to cell phones, MP3 players, and rock concerts. Studies show that ear damage, leading to permanent hearing impairment is not only increasing in the general population, but increasing at a significantly faster rate in younger populations.
The potential for hearing damage is a function of both the level and the duration of exposure to the sound stimulus. Studies have also indicated that hearing damage is a cumulative phenomenon. Although hearing damage due to industrial or background noise exposure is more thoroughly understood, the risk of exposing one's self to excessive noise, especially with the use of headphones has also been recently studied. Protecting the ear from ambient noise is primarily done with the use of static earplugs that attempt to shield the inner ear from excessively high decibel noise.
It is also known from the related art that headphones for consumer electronics have been provided with a predetermined maximum output level in an attempt to prevent ear damage. This approach is ineffective as it does not take into account listening duration and the calculation of risk for auditory injury. Other headphones are maximum-limited to produce levels that can still result in significant overexposure given enough time, or limit the user to levels, which may not be sufficient to achieve an adequate short term listening level. In the latter case, consumer acceptance for the protective gear could be severely limited and a product would fail to survive in a competitive market and therefore be of no use.
Accordingly, a system that overcomes the shortcomings in the related art would be useful.